Saturday, December 15, 2007

Work started right on schedule this morning at 9:00. I haven't actually gone down yet today (can't seem to bring myself to move more than 6" away from a space heater or the 2 cats sleeping on my legs..), but will get a good photo-roundup of today's progress to post tomorrow.

Plenty of progress in the last 2 days though!

Here's the side of the house as it looked Thursday morning.

The giant pile of dirt is gone, and the new joists and sill are in place on this side.

The pile of plywood visible inside isn't holding anything up, it's about to become the form for the concrete. Plus, it makes a handy step as it's a pretty big drop to get down there now! We haven't spent as much time down there this week, since the water heater pilot has thankfully stayed on.

Still plenty of dirt being pulled out. We expected them to bring a bobcat down there, but with all the cribbing they said it wouldn't be worthwhile, so it's all being dug by hand and loaded in the truck in wheelbarrows.

Here's a shot of our slightly jenky, but no longer leaking or stopped up with a shoprag main sewage line. (the new joists and sill plate are visible here too)

Most of the drain lines are in a pile out back, which is fine for now since we only have 1 bathroom and the kitchen sink.

This is the temporary drain line for the kitchen sink that you can see tied in on the left of the main line.

The center area down there doesn't look too different, as most of the work is focused around the perimeter. Which you can see here, in the same view of the side taken Friday morning.

Most of the plywood form is in place, as are the supports.

The rebar cage all along the East side is in place, and the anchor bolts and tie-downs look to be in place all the way around the perimeter as of Friday morning. They're spaced even closer than what the engineer spec'd, so once there's a foundation there, this house is not coming off of it!

Until then though, it's a pretty wild ride. In the evenings, either of us walking through the house causes some pretty good swaying.. and being in here while the work is actually happening is like one earthquake after another.

I think it's about time I head out and grab the paper and some pictures, which I'll post tomorrow.

They are having the first inspection this Tuesday and if all goes well they are pouring the concrete this Thursday!!! It seems so fast that its hard to imagine that its going to take 6 weeks. Its only been 10 working days so far!